In
response to this poem, someone once complained that I 'seem to be suggesting that
being gay is as natural as God intended.' Well, the poem lends itself
to various interpretations (as a poem should) and if
that's theirs, I am delighted to have at least giving a
religious bigot some food for thought.
When it
comes to the various Holy Books and the attitudes they convey towards gay,
bisexual, and transgender men and women, I know many people feel the same as
me; much has been lost in translation or, as often as not, deliberate
misinterpretation. Too many people have too great a fondness (reliance even) on a stereotyping which not only confuses important issues but, worse, is put forward as a truth, Time and again, I have heard people trying to justifying an attitude that beggars belief, not least because it has its roots in stereotypical caricatures, especially when it concerns LGBT issues. I am not disputing everyone's right free speech, but let's at least get our facts right, yes?
We all
occupy a mother’s womb. I will never believe the love there is conditional to
our turning out the way some parents’ preoccupation with various
socio-cultural-religious conventions try to impose as. indeed, they have done very
successfully since the beginning of time. Thank goodness for a natural capacity
of the human heart for rebellion against such constraints; it may well have
lost a good few battles and will surely lose a good few more, but is as sure to
win the war for common humanity as day
follows night.
It was once put to me by a work colleague that poetry - no more or less than other art forms - is all about self-indulgence. I beg to differ. Poetry - no more or less than other art forms - is all about finding out who we are; nor is it a definitive 'we' or first person persona for, as the metaphysical poet John Donne points out, 'No man is an island entire of itself...' (Meditation XVII)
Whatever, be it in reading prose or poetry, appraising a painting or a person, the chances are few if any will come to the same conclusion, and even greater are the chances of any one person reaching the right one; we are all made up of many parts. The arts - among which feedback regarding my own suggests poetry is often considered the poor relation - attempt to reach at least some of those parts, the sum of which makes us who we are.
There can be no perfect interpretation of mind-body-spirit, but we can at least try to lose as little as possible in translation, and allow for human error ...
LOST IN TRANSLATION
When people ask where I came from;
I
answer, my mother’s womb,
so why am I so haunted by a sense
of having been somewhere else,
distant,
unknown, as if I’d crossed
mythical
territories of time and space
just to find my way here?
When others ask if I have a ‘real’ goal
in life, I confess I’m never sure
which
doors are left ajar just for me
to take a
peep (our choice, enter
or not) and may let a still, small voice
out of time and space persuade me to try
the safer (better?) path
Sometimes I am even accused of sitting
on some metaphorical fence
rather than explore secret passages
of the
mind, and the doors open
to tease me, dare me enter, have a go
at translating the ages-old hieroglyphics
lining Mother’s
womb
Yes, I
have a ‘real’ enough goal in life
if
prompted by a poet’s feeling
for wrestling with the hieroglyphics
between
womb and tomb,
writing
up an alternative autobiography
of my life and death than trust local
graffiti
on doors kicked shut
Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2016
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]